It's official, ETHS-210 Fall of 2008 is officially over.
It's sad to end a semester especially having one with this class. I felt it was these past few weeks that really brought all of us together more and if this class lasted a year, who knows how much there would be to experience in this class.
I was intent on doing a live blog during the class but I guess I got caught up in the activities.
Well, to continue from where I left off on "The Big Wrap Up, Part I", I remember we did a midterm attempt that didn't turn out so well. In the end, that idea was scrapped and I wonder what ever happened to that footage of me being humiliated by our "CPG/Kamikaze" protest crew.
It was a fun experience overall. Even if we messed up, our combined group picked ourselves off the ground and created something better. I was very satisfied with the result of being more organized and very thankful that the whole class had our support during the TWLF commemoration strike. It was much appreciated.
I learned so much from this class but I wish we could experience more from it in a historic sense. To be honest, not even Asian American Studies over at City College, where we learned everything from a book, taught me that lower Chinatown used to be a Manillatown. It's very difficult to even notice the existence of one because of all the skyscrapers and small random Chinese stores on Kearny. I think that is what San Francisco is truly missing, a Manillatown. We've got everything but that for some odd reason.
I thought the I Hotel story was very interesting. I actually went by there a month ago and checked out the lower floor. It was chaulk full of historic details and I'm happy that they got a new one rather than none. Good for them!
One thing I regret from class was when we learned about Treasure Island. I wish I spoke up because I actually have a granduncle who came to America and had to stop in Angel Island for interrogation. He made it in successfully even though he was a paper son. Little known fact is that he later on apologized to the city and had his last name restored. That itself alone is some interesting history that I learned over the summer. It's too bad I was pretty young when he passed away, otherwise I would've asked him some questions because that was a piece of my history that made an impact on America at some point.
I think Lawrence did a great job on his hip hop presentation but I think it lacked one important key component: Asian Americans.
It was very well informative but the only message I got was a minority struggle. I think with the limited time we have, he didn't get to it but I was hoping for that component to kick in.
After this whole class session was over, I came up with what I see Asian Americans as in the present and the future.
Asian Americans of today are currently molding up a distinguished identity. Slowly we are breaking away from the past and creating more positives that eliminate bad stereotypes.
Culture is ever changing and I can see an Asian impact in the not-too-distant future. Pretty soon it will no longer be called an InvASIAN but...InnovASIAN.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Utada Hikaru
One week me and my friends had cravings for Japanese food, also my friend needed to buy a few things for herself so we headed off to Japan town. After we ate and were all content from our delicious meal we started to do some shopping. While walking around I noticed that many of the stores were playing songs from one my favorite artist, Utada Hikaru. It got me thinking, are they playing these songs because they she is technically Japanese American, or because she is Japanese? Utada Hikaru was born here in America and even went to school here for her early years, but after a while she moved back to Japan. Japan does not allow dual citizenship, so I am not sure what Utada's citizen ship is. I tried to do some research, but I was not able to find out anything that would answer my question. Seeing as she has been living in Japan ever since she moved back, I guess she would have Japanese citizenship. She does however, once in a while come back to American to do a few concerts or to visit her vacation home in New York. One more thing that interests me, is that her English album has themes that many American artists sing about, which are different from her Japanese sung albums. I guess she has different inspirations for each culture she sings about.
Asian American Sterotypes
The other night I was sitting in the living room and watching TV with my friends. I was flipping through the channels and happened to land on Mythbusters For those who have never heard of the show it is about a group of people called "The Mythbusters" ,who well basically look at myths that we all know very well and test to is if they are true or not. We were watching the show for a while and my friend makes a comment about how the three of could dress up as three of the mythbusters because we match them so well. I of course would be the Asian guy on the show, Grant, and my friends would be their respective counterparts. It tickled my brain that the Asian guy on the show was a computer/electronics expert who loved to build robots. Not to mention he tends to talk in technical terms. I on the other hand, have nothing more in common with Grant, except our black hair. Today's stereotype of the Asian male seems to revolve around be some sort of computer nerd or a martial arts master. Oddly enough the people who I know myself who are these types of people are Caucasian. But yeah, I was just interested to notice that one of my beloved shows that I watch has a stereotypical portrayal of an Asian male
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
The Big Wrap Up Part 1
Well, tomorrow will be the last day of our Asian American Culture class.
I guess to wrap things up, I'm going to draw the overall conclusion to every experience I had in that very class.
It all began when the summer started. I developed an interest in my own ethnic identity after reading through the history of China. I was fascinated by 5000 years of advancement in civilization. Not to mention the Olympics were going to happen in Beijing in those coming months. I had enrolled in an Asian American Studies class at City College because I wanted to broaden my knowledge. It turns out that class and our Asian American Culture 210 class were very similar. The CCSF guys were struggling with the construction of the City College of San Francisco, Chinatown branch while the SFSU guys were struggling to maintain Ethnic Studies on campus. Basically, I now realized that no matter where I am, there will always be those that are passionate about educating and maintaining our identities.
I learned a lot from that class that would eventually prepare me for this ETHS 210 class. In fact, I can't help but to admit that our team had the upperhand one time in class because I knew a lot of the facts on all the major and minor ethnic groups of Asia and their early Asian American experiences. What I wanted out of the class was to understand the concept of an Asian American identity.
I grew up not knowing what exactly that was. I would come to acknowledge that at the very minimum, Chinese American identity is a fusion of hip hop and Hong Kong identity. Hence why back then, you would see groups of teens in baggy clothes sporting dyed hair in the streets of San Francisco Chinatown. I'm not ashamed to admit that I was one of those kids.
It wouldn't be until I started participating in this class that I noticed there is a constant struggle in Asian American culture and society. The struggle to rid ourselves of past stereotypes and progress to integrate ourselves into the overall mainstream America. I had always believed that we Asians had it pretty good in the country but that was before I realized that it's just San Francisco where almost everyone is Asian.
At first I thought this class would be by the book like my Asian American Culture class but it offered much more. A hands on experience. I can not think of too many places that offer an experience like APAture and unity in SFSU where clubs like ASU, PACE, and KSU all come together for various purposes.
I really liked the whole concept of splitting into groups and creating team names. I think it was even better when groups merged together and everyone got familiar with one another. Personally, I felt our group wasn't as fully functional as the other groups. Since day one, we had 2 group members drop the class. Our roll calls wern't perfect because during attendence, we went by "If It Ain't Rice, It Ain't Nice" rather than "Kamikaze". (Thank god, that was fixed...last week)
I really had a blast doing the midterm and I didn't fully appreciate the Asian American Studies struggle until the 40th anniversary of the TWLF. The staged protest was an experience I don't think I will ever have in any other class.
*More to come*
I guess to wrap things up, I'm going to draw the overall conclusion to every experience I had in that very class.
It all began when the summer started. I developed an interest in my own ethnic identity after reading through the history of China. I was fascinated by 5000 years of advancement in civilization. Not to mention the Olympics were going to happen in Beijing in those coming months. I had enrolled in an Asian American Studies class at City College because I wanted to broaden my knowledge. It turns out that class and our Asian American Culture 210 class were very similar. The CCSF guys were struggling with the construction of the City College of San Francisco, Chinatown branch while the SFSU guys were struggling to maintain Ethnic Studies on campus. Basically, I now realized that no matter where I am, there will always be those that are passionate about educating and maintaining our identities.
I learned a lot from that class that would eventually prepare me for this ETHS 210 class. In fact, I can't help but to admit that our team had the upperhand one time in class because I knew a lot of the facts on all the major and minor ethnic groups of Asia and their early Asian American experiences. What I wanted out of the class was to understand the concept of an Asian American identity.
I grew up not knowing what exactly that was. I would come to acknowledge that at the very minimum, Chinese American identity is a fusion of hip hop and Hong Kong identity. Hence why back then, you would see groups of teens in baggy clothes sporting dyed hair in the streets of San Francisco Chinatown. I'm not ashamed to admit that I was one of those kids.
It wouldn't be until I started participating in this class that I noticed there is a constant struggle in Asian American culture and society. The struggle to rid ourselves of past stereotypes and progress to integrate ourselves into the overall mainstream America. I had always believed that we Asians had it pretty good in the country but that was before I realized that it's just San Francisco where almost everyone is Asian.
At first I thought this class would be by the book like my Asian American Culture class but it offered much more. A hands on experience. I can not think of too many places that offer an experience like APAture and unity in SFSU where clubs like ASU, PACE, and KSU all come together for various purposes.
I really liked the whole concept of splitting into groups and creating team names. I think it was even better when groups merged together and everyone got familiar with one another. Personally, I felt our group wasn't as fully functional as the other groups. Since day one, we had 2 group members drop the class. Our roll calls wern't perfect because during attendence, we went by "If It Ain't Rice, It Ain't Nice" rather than "Kamikaze". (Thank god, that was fixed...last week)
I really had a blast doing the midterm and I didn't fully appreciate the Asian American Studies struggle until the 40th anniversary of the TWLF. The staged protest was an experience I don't think I will ever have in any other class.
*More to come*
Asian American Poet: Jin
For my Asian American poet, I did Jin. To be honest, I never chose this artist simply because he was easy to grab in contemporary standards nor because he was easy and obvious to analyze.
In early 2004, I believed a dark cloud loomed over the Asian American community when American Idol reject, William Hung released an album. I believe that was one of the saddest days for mainstream Asian America. When William Hung was signed to a record label and produced a CD, I felt decades of struggles in eliminating negative stereotypes collapsing.
Shortly after the William Hung CD was released, Jin released his first CD, "The Rest Is History" and I was hooked after I listened to his first single, "Learn Chinese". At first, I felt it was something like an evolution for hip hop because we finally have a distinguished Asian person that earned his rightful contract after going undefeated in freestyle rap offs on BET.
Let me tell you a little about Jin.
Jin Au-Yeung was born in Miami, Florida and raised by two Asian American immigrants. Jin often mentions his roots being planted in America and how his family struggled to have the "American Dream". Jin became fascinated by hip-hop and rap back in the early 90's when rap was emerging as a dominating genre and culture in urban America. Jin developed a habit for freestyling and often tried to perfect it in high school, at work and literally everywhere he could find someone to listen to it.
His big break would come in 2001 when he moved to New York City. By participating in hip-hop clubs all over the city, Jin rose through the ranks despite his ethnic background and all the way to BET's Freestyle Fridays show. It was through many victories in the show that he gained national exposure and was offered a Ruff Ryders' contract in 2002 and was even dubbed, "The first Chinese/Asian rapper". From that point on, his music began to develop and advance but his image was fading. Jin would go on to release 4 albums and even 1 in full Chinese. His full Chinese album entitled, "ABC" introduces the Chinese world to what being an Asian American means to him and how identity has no boundaries even by country.
I hand picked a particular song by Jin which is dedicated to his grandfather that passed away in 2006. This song entitled, "Chinese Food" talks about his perspective on Asian America and it's progression and struggles that his family endured to achieve the American Dream. One thing I noticed in his vocals was his passion. I felt that he was very passionate about his cultural identity wasn't ashamed of it either.
Here's the rap:
My live has been likeOne long journey,
filled with a lot of ups, and definitely a lot of downs
Check it
I dedicate this verse here, to my grandfather
Who passed away earlier this year,
At his funeral I ran threw a whole box of tissues
My tears are dry, but I still miss you
And I promise that I'll never forget you
These last six bars just made it official
Yeah I know he can hear me,
Even though he don't speak English,
he can understand clearly,
What his grandson is trying to express(sigh)
It's tough, but I'm trying my best I remember as a kid just runnin' with him,
Every year I would spend a whole summer with him,
Visit him in the projects,
And he knew I was intrigued by them shiny objects
Cuttin' a Rolex out of magazine ad
Told me when I grow up, I could buy one for my dad,
So much energy like me quite clever,
These are memories I will treasure forever,
Every now and then I still shed a tear
Walking through Chinatown I feel his spirit in the air
For your legacy I go harder
Tell my kid that your great grandfather was a great grandfather,
But let me walk you to the timeline
Take you back to my pops and moms grind
They both immigrated to this country as teenagers,
You know, typical American dream chasers,
Immigrating blew up like disco,
Heads were movin' from New York and to Frisco,
My pops said, "NY, let's go,
"This was in the 70's when he used to rock a 'fro,
Bell bottoms, pimp hat with the tilted brim,
I've seen pictures and I still don't think it's him,
Fast forward to '82
That's when he met my moms, got married, and had a baby too
That baby's who?
That baby's me, Jin Au-Yeung,
My moms was wild young,
Only eighteen a senior in high school,
When I was eighteen, that was my school,
NMB, I'm a Charger for life,
I put that on every single bar that I write
Picture a young couple, tryin' to get on track
What are the options, a restaurant, a laundry mat?
So they went with plan A,
From that point on,
I was at the restaurant every damn day
But I was only twelve, I just wanted to play
When my friends would come,
I'd give the food away,
I know that's bad for business,
So I apologize now if it still makes a difference
I guess deep down,
I just hated the fact I felt trapped,
And that was my way of getting you back
I can't go back in time and I hate it
But I can't tell you your hard work is appreciated
See to the customer, that's just a plate of rice
But to my family, that shit could save a life
And this is more than Chinese food
It's a life story of a Chinese dude
And I ain't come here to tell you what to eat,
It's just food for thought over a beat
Nah, I ain't here to tell you what to eat
It's just food for thought over a beat
As a short response, I'm dedicating a poem to my late grandpa that paved the way for my big family.
My gramps was never rich but always happy,
But your presense in this land was not too shabby,
You raised us all as a cook,
You taught us all by the book,
I remember your hobby was playing mahjong,
I heard stories of your visits in Hong Kong,
it was there that you approved someone who wasn't so bad,
I'm fortunate to know that man would be my dad.
I always remembered you sitting by the TV,
understanding that achieving your American dream wasn't quite so easy,
Even though you're gone, I wanna let you know,
Your presence is still felt and I always let it show.
My mom still tells stories about your early American days,
Retaining your culture and traditional ways,
You will never be forgotten,
and I think of you everytime I'm on the corner of Clay and Stockton.
Grandma is always worried, so please look out for her,
She misses you so much, her words would end up slurred.
Thank you for taking care of me when I was young,
I hope I can be as great as you until my days are done.
In early 2004, I believed a dark cloud loomed over the Asian American community when American Idol reject, William Hung released an album. I believe that was one of the saddest days for mainstream Asian America. When William Hung was signed to a record label and produced a CD, I felt decades of struggles in eliminating negative stereotypes collapsing.
Shortly after the William Hung CD was released, Jin released his first CD, "The Rest Is History" and I was hooked after I listened to his first single, "Learn Chinese". At first, I felt it was something like an evolution for hip hop because we finally have a distinguished Asian person that earned his rightful contract after going undefeated in freestyle rap offs on BET.
Let me tell you a little about Jin.
Jin Au-Yeung was born in Miami, Florida and raised by two Asian American immigrants. Jin often mentions his roots being planted in America and how his family struggled to have the "American Dream". Jin became fascinated by hip-hop and rap back in the early 90's when rap was emerging as a dominating genre and culture in urban America. Jin developed a habit for freestyling and often tried to perfect it in high school, at work and literally everywhere he could find someone to listen to it.
His big break would come in 2001 when he moved to New York City. By participating in hip-hop clubs all over the city, Jin rose through the ranks despite his ethnic background and all the way to BET's Freestyle Fridays show. It was through many victories in the show that he gained national exposure and was offered a Ruff Ryders' contract in 2002 and was even dubbed, "The first Chinese/Asian rapper". From that point on, his music began to develop and advance but his image was fading. Jin would go on to release 4 albums and even 1 in full Chinese. His full Chinese album entitled, "ABC" introduces the Chinese world to what being an Asian American means to him and how identity has no boundaries even by country.
I hand picked a particular song by Jin which is dedicated to his grandfather that passed away in 2006. This song entitled, "Chinese Food" talks about his perspective on Asian America and it's progression and struggles that his family endured to achieve the American Dream. One thing I noticed in his vocals was his passion. I felt that he was very passionate about his cultural identity wasn't ashamed of it either.
Here's the rap:
My live has been likeOne long journey,
filled with a lot of ups, and definitely a lot of downs
Check it
I dedicate this verse here, to my grandfather
Who passed away earlier this year,
At his funeral I ran threw a whole box of tissues
My tears are dry, but I still miss you
And I promise that I'll never forget you
These last six bars just made it official
Yeah I know he can hear me,
Even though he don't speak English,
he can understand clearly,
What his grandson is trying to express(sigh)
It's tough, but I'm trying my best I remember as a kid just runnin' with him,
Every year I would spend a whole summer with him,
Visit him in the projects,
And he knew I was intrigued by them shiny objects
Cuttin' a Rolex out of magazine ad
Told me when I grow up, I could buy one for my dad,
So much energy like me quite clever,
These are memories I will treasure forever,
Every now and then I still shed a tear
Walking through Chinatown I feel his spirit in the air
For your legacy I go harder
Tell my kid that your great grandfather was a great grandfather,
But let me walk you to the timeline
Take you back to my pops and moms grind
They both immigrated to this country as teenagers,
You know, typical American dream chasers,
Immigrating blew up like disco,
Heads were movin' from New York and to Frisco,
My pops said, "NY, let's go,
"This was in the 70's when he used to rock a 'fro,
Bell bottoms, pimp hat with the tilted brim,
I've seen pictures and I still don't think it's him,
Fast forward to '82
That's when he met my moms, got married, and had a baby too
That baby's who?
That baby's me, Jin Au-Yeung,
My moms was wild young,
Only eighteen a senior in high school,
When I was eighteen, that was my school,
NMB, I'm a Charger for life,
I put that on every single bar that I write
Picture a young couple, tryin' to get on track
What are the options, a restaurant, a laundry mat?
So they went with plan A,
From that point on,
I was at the restaurant every damn day
But I was only twelve, I just wanted to play
When my friends would come,
I'd give the food away,
I know that's bad for business,
So I apologize now if it still makes a difference
I guess deep down,
I just hated the fact I felt trapped,
And that was my way of getting you back
I can't go back in time and I hate it
But I can't tell you your hard work is appreciated
See to the customer, that's just a plate of rice
But to my family, that shit could save a life
And this is more than Chinese food
It's a life story of a Chinese dude
And I ain't come here to tell you what to eat,
It's just food for thought over a beat
Nah, I ain't here to tell you what to eat
It's just food for thought over a beat
As a short response, I'm dedicating a poem to my late grandpa that paved the way for my big family.
My gramps was never rich but always happy,
But your presense in this land was not too shabby,
You raised us all as a cook,
You taught us all by the book,
I remember your hobby was playing mahjong,
I heard stories of your visits in Hong Kong,
it was there that you approved someone who wasn't so bad,
I'm fortunate to know that man would be my dad.
I always remembered you sitting by the TV,
understanding that achieving your American dream wasn't quite so easy,
Even though you're gone, I wanna let you know,
Your presence is still felt and I always let it show.
My mom still tells stories about your early American days,
Retaining your culture and traditional ways,
You will never be forgotten,
and I think of you everytime I'm on the corner of Clay and Stockton.
Grandma is always worried, so please look out for her,
She misses you so much, her words would end up slurred.
Thank you for taking care of me when I was young,
I hope I can be as great as you until my days are done.
Asian Art in American
If you live in The Bay Area, it would be pretty sweat to come and visit the Asian and Asian American Art Expo in San Francisco one day (http://www.asianart.org)
This Museum of the arts contains treasures of the Asian culture and is in display for the public to see. (see Photos)
When I found the site, and like any culture, i was immersed by the density and creative thought that was put into each work of art. to think that every culture has its own image of what art is and how it is portrayed, in the variety of form of plaster, ceramics, paper, stone, metals, etc.
To think that this art has been preserved for hundreds, maybe even thousands of years and is now in our hands, shows how far we have come. from the days of sticks and stones, to the days of silicon and binary code. Asian American Culture has a unique twist of the arts. In many exhibitions, there is an emphasis of balance and harmony, influence of nature and environments, and beauty. In addition to the vivid colors and details there is much to take away from the arts. and I believe that everyone should take the opportunity from our regular, stressful lives, and revisit the part. so that we are reminded of where we come from and how far we have come.
There is no greater pleasure than to take a day and immerse yourself to explore your more primitive and cultural side.
-Rafael De La Torre
Kamikaze Records! Were In Business!
You heard right, we as a team got so deep into our project that we have started a record company secretly and have been recruiting talented artist here in the Bay Area! take that !
HA! I wish..... =(
But seriously, I was roaming for Asian American artist around the bay and stumbled onto this site:
http://www.kamikazerecords.com/
They are a record company with a mission to promote new talent here in the Bay Area and Promote Asian American Artist, with a Mix of a variety of artist and genres. some seem so promising that the site claims we might start hearing some on local airwaves. Hopefully this will span a new generation of Asian American artist and Idols. because as we have discussed in class, Asian Americans do encounter face the issue of a lack of idol seen in mainstream media. Maybe its about time to fix that and bring a balance.
That's what Kamikaze records is looking forward to do.
-Rafael De La Torre
HA! I wish..... =(
But seriously, I was roaming for Asian American artist around the bay and stumbled onto this site:
http://www.kamikazerecords.com/
They are a record company with a mission to promote new talent here in the Bay Area and Promote Asian American Artist, with a Mix of a variety of artist and genres. some seem so promising that the site claims we might start hearing some on local airwaves. Hopefully this will span a new generation of Asian American artist and Idols. because as we have discussed in class, Asian Americans do encounter face the issue of a lack of idol seen in mainstream media. Maybe its about time to fix that and bring a balance.
That's what Kamikaze records is looking forward to do.
-Rafael De La Torre
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